WASHINGTON -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Video showing Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl , captured by the Taliban in Afghanistan , is just another example of how captors use the medium for psychological warfare .

U.S. Army Spc. Shoshana Johnson , who was held by insurgents in Iraq , prepares to enter a plane to safety .

The latest video shows Bergdahl , of Ketchum , Idaho , looking comfortable and eating food . While he expresses concern about not seeing his family and girlfriend again , he does appear to speak calmly and has no visible signs of abuse .

`` I have a very , very good family that I love back home in America , and I miss them every day that I 'm gone , '' he says in a 28-minute video released by his captors . `` I miss them , and I 'm afraid I might never see them again and that I 'll never be able to tell them I love them again . I 'll never be able to hug them . ''

But that is in stark contrast to the well-publicized captures of U.S. servicemen and women in conflicts past .

Vietnam

Sen. John McCain , whose plane was shot down during a combat mission over Vietnam in 1967 , is considered one of the most famous prisoners of war . He was captured by the Communist Viet Cong and spent nearly six years in a prisoner of war camp , where he was often tortured .

A grainy black-and-white film released by his captors showed a severely injured McCain talking on camera in the so-called `` Hanoi Hilton . ''

McCain later refused to be released before other prisoners . He eventually returned to the United States in 1973 .

`` During the years , we were kept in solitary confinement or two or three to a cell because they did n't want us to see each other . We 'd spend all our time tapping on the walls to each other and encouraging each other and organizing , organizing , organizing with our chain of command . The days and hours go by , '' McCain told CNN 's John King last year .

Iraq

And most recently , in 2003 , video from Iraq painted a picture of an unruly and chaotic terror organization holding U.S. soldiers captured in the Iraq military theater .

Army Spc. Shoshana Johnson was shown on videotape being interrogated -- with five other soldiers including Pfc. Jessica Lynch , who was badly wounded and was held prisoner at a separate location .

Nine of their fellow soldiers were killed when their convoy was ambushed .

Johnson appeared frightened , with her eyes darting quickly left and right .

`` I was terrified . I did n't know what was going to happen to me , '' Johnson said in a past CNN interview . `` And I was in a lot of pain . ''

Lynch 's videotaped rescue made her a celebrity , and she was used by the Pentagon to put a face on the men and women who were fighting the war against the regime of Saddam Hussein .

Johnson and the other POWs spent 22 days as prisoners until Marines rescued them .

Chris Voss , a former lead international kidnapping coordinator for the FBI , says that as a lesson from the Johnson video , the Taliban may have learned to try to appear more political than radical .

`` They 're hoping that ... this gets to other media outlets that will make them appear so that they are a reasonable political force , '' he says . `` There is very much a lack of overthreat in the -LSB- Bergdahl -RSB- video , and they clearly thought this through ... specifically strategic for these purposes . ''

Somalia

Army Chief Warrant Officer 3 Michael Durant , a Black Hawk helicopter pilot , was shot down in 1993 during a combat mission in Mogadishu , Somalia . The body of one of his fellow pilots being dragged through the streets was captured on video .

After the crash , he was captured by a mob and held for 11 days . Durant suffered several serious injuries , including a broken back and face and leg wounds . He was later released .

His bloodied and bruised face was splashed on the covers of several national magazines , including Time and Newsweek , and on TV networks .

His story later inspired Mark Bowden 's bestseller `` Black Hawk Down '' and a movie by director Ridley Scott .

Voss says his image was depicted in a different way than others had been .

`` The media picked that up and ran in a way that was very accusatory towards the United States , '' he says . `` There were pictures of Mike Durant in a clearly beaten-up condition , and the captions in the various national magazines were , ` What in the world are we doing ? ' ''

Voss says that from that incident , the United States may have learned to apply the mostly mum stance it 's using during the Bergdahl capture .

`` The U.S. government gave a knee-jerk reaction to that , which I think they 've learned from , '' he says . `` So how this plays out in the media , the Taliban is being very cautious to appear to be reasonable ... because they do n't want to make themselves look like they 're fanatical . They are trying to be very reasonable . ''

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Army Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl was captured nearly three weeks ago in Afghanistan

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Sen. John McCain is considered one of the most famous prisoners of war

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Video of captured soldiers in Iraq painted a picture of rogue captors